connection (a similar inheritance of arms
happened in the case of the Haldanes of Oleneagles).
In any case, since the Frasers quarter the
Grant arms for their Highland inheritance (see above), they probably inherited Lovat
ultimately from a Bisset heiress, but more immediately through a Grant heiress.
Notwithstanding their growing clan following, the Grants did not gain a real foothold in
the Highlands until 1434, when their then chief, Sir lain Grant, Sheriff of Inverness,
acquired a vast district in Strathspey by marriage to the daughter and heiress of Gilbert
of Glencairnie, the descendant of a younger son of the House of Strathearn (see Chapter
VI). Afterwards they came to dominate Strathspey from Aviemore to Rothes.
The Hacketts (Hacaed, Haiceid) came to
Ireland with the Anglo-Norman invasion in the twelfth century, settling in what is now
Counties Kildare, Carlow and Kilkenny. They are well known in Anglo-Irish records, and one
of them, Peter Hackett, was Archbishop of Cashel in 1385. Townlands of the name appear as
Ballyhackett or Hackettstown in Counties Dublin and Kildare, and Hackettstown, County
Carlow is still extant. A branch settled in Connacht and became Gaelicized, forming a
small sept known as MacHackett. They were seated at Castle Hackett, six miles southeast of
Tuam. Some of these were known as Guckian.
The Hamiltons (Hamultun) were an important
Anglo-Norman family of the Lowlands. In 1474 James, the first Lord Hamilton, married the
Princess Mary, sister of James III. Their son, James, second Lord Hamilton, Heir
Presumptive to the Scottish Throne, was in 1503 created Earl of Arran, and given the
Island of Arran with the earldom. Arran had come to the Stewarts, his mother’s
family, through an heiress of Angus, Son of Somerled, Lord of Bute and Aran, Ca. 1200.
The Hays (Mac Garaidh) are an Anglo-Norman
family descended from William de Ia Haye, Butler of Scotland, who came to Scotland about
1160. He married the Celtic heiress of Pitmilly near the Tay estuary, and was also made
first Baron of Erroll. Their son David, second Baron of Erroll, married Ethna, daughter of
Gilbert Mac Ferteth, Earl of Strathearn, thus establishing the main Hay line (David’s
younger brother Robert and younger son William founded Lowland houses of the name).
Gilbert de la Haye, third Baron of Erroll and Sheriff of Perth was one of the
co—Regents of Scotland in 1255 and 1258. He married a Cummin, but nevertheless his
grandson, Sir Gilbert, the fifth Baron of Erroll, was an important follower of The Bruce,
who made him hereditary Constable of Scotland after the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. In
1452 the then chief, William, Lord Hay was created Earl of Erroll. The seventh Earl of
Erroll’s mother was the daughter and heiress of Lyon Logie of that Ilk, Baron of
Logiealmond, which inheritance, together with the Barony of Caputh on the border of Atholl
and Gowrie gave the Hays land and influence in the Perthshire Highlands. The ninth earl
was an important leader of the |
